Arsenal, given perfect rating by Dave Ingraham in the $10,000 Open Handicap Pace, fired bullets start to finish at Pompano Park on Sunday night (May 21), easily handling a quartet of rivals in a 1:53.4 victory.
The nine-year-old gelded son of Artiscape, leaving from the coveted post five, won a brief early tussle with Stirling Cadillac (Bryce Fenn), from post four, and went on to card panels of :27.1, :57.1 and 1:25.4 before a :28 finale was more than sufficient to hold off the late-surging Stirling Cadillac to score by three-parts-of-a-length. Surge Seelster (Kyle Bolon driving), finished third, two and a half lengths away while Cartoonist finished fourth. Goldstar Raider was fifth after a brief bid on the backside.
In a post-race interview, Ingraham said, “This is one tough bugger. Everyone knows it because he’s gone back and forth between owners over the past several starts and he loves to race on the front end.
“Once we got to the lead, he was well relaxed, and I was quite confident in his chances once we got to the half in :57.1, which is soft for a horse of his caliber.”
Owned and trained by Kelly Case, Arsenal now has a scorecard reading 6-7-1 in 18 starts this year, good for $38,439. Lifetime, Arsenal has 35 wins in a career measuring 207 starts with earnings of $459,063 to go along with his Pocono Downs mark of 1:50.3.
Off at 1-2, Arsenal paid $3.00 to win.
Also, the brilliant Florida-bred champion, Gold Star Briana, undefeated at ages two and three with 16 straight victories, made her four-year-old debut and promptly put a new lifetime mark on her card — 1:56 — in scoring a handy win for Wally Hennessey.
The daughter of Basil, trained by Dan Hennessey for owner Kevin Kelly, was away “gingerly” before taking command after the opening quarter and then easily held off Thundercrest (Dave Ingraham) for win number 17. PCs Alleyway (Tony Kerwood) was third while Deli Craze and All Star Fame picked up the two final awards in the sextet of four year-old trotters.
Hennessey was thrilled with Gold Star Briana saying, “She qualified nicely last week and, with the outside post tonight, I wanted to take good care of her leaving. She can grind a long way and, once she made the top, she seemed strong and willing the rest of the way.
“I was very happy with her performance.”
Off at 1-5, Gold Star Briana paid $2.40 to win and sent her lifetime earnings to $125,913 in the process.
In other Sunday night action, the 11-year-old warrior A Crown For Lindy, driven by Tom Eichas, stormed from eighth turning for home and used a :29.2 closing kick to score his second straight win in the Florida Amateur Driving Club trot.
With the situation looking hopeless for the 3-2 favourite during the first three-quarters of the mile, A Crown For Lindy unleashed a late burst, coming from seven and a quarter lengths off the leader at the stretch call to win by a neck in 1:59. Revrac Harbour (Troy Basista), was second after taking command just past the opening :28.4 quarter and then proceeded to carve out panels of :58.3 and 1:28.2. The early leader, New Scent (Dennis Whittemore) finished third, one and a quarter lengths away, while Saint Pattys Doll held off Thekeptman for the fourth spot on the board.
Trained by Allen Saul for owner Dein Spriggs, A Crown For Lindy won for the eighth time this season and 58th time career-wise, sending his career bounty to $426,798 -- $23,939 this year.
The victory meant another $1,125 going into the coffers of Equine-Assisted Therapies, the hand-picked charity by owner Spriggs to benefit from half of the gelding’s earnings through the end of the Pompano Park meet.
Executive Director Molly Murphy was on hand for the win and “got chills” as the 11-year-old thundered down the lane for the narrow win.
“This is unbelievable,” she said, “and I absolutely got chills watching ‘Lindy’ tonight. It means so much for our organization to be able to continue our work helping those in needs with therapeutic programs.
“Dein [Spriggs] is a saint for helping us and we appreciate him so much!”
The Florida Amateur Driving Club has donated over $185,000 to charitable causes since its inception.
Racing continues on Wednesday night with Layer Cake looking for a repeat win in the Open Handicap Pace for mares and My Revenuer and Commentary hooking up in the Open Trot. Post time is 7:20 p.m.
(With files from Pompano Park)